Huw Silk

UKIP have triumphed in the East Midlands region for the 2014 European election.

The party came out on top for the region, which includes the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

Votes being counted for the 2014 European elections at Kettering Conference Centre. Picture: alisonbagleyphotography@gmail.com

UKIP won 32.9 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Conservatives, who finished second on 26 per cent. Both parties will send two MEPs to Brussels.

Labour came third with 24.9 per cent, meaning the party has had one MEP elected.

The Green Party finished fourth, pushing the Liberal Democrats into fifth.

The results, announced by David Cook, the chief executive of Kettering Borough Council, which acted as the lead authority for the region, mean three incumbent East Midlands will be making a return to the European Parliament.

Sitting UKIP MEP Roger Helmer, from Lutterworth in Leicestershire, is joined by party colleague Margot Parker, from near Corby in Northamptonshire.

Conservative Emma McClarkin, from Market Harborough in Leicestershire, was re-elected, and will sit alongside new Tory MEP Andrew Lewer, from Matlock in Derbyshire.

Labour’s Glenis Willmott, from Lockington near Derby, also retained her seat.

However, Lib Dem Bill Newton Dunn, Britain’s longest-serving MEP, will not be returning to Brussels.

Mrs Parker paid tribute to the hard work of the UKIP team which helped the party top the poll. She added: “We had a tremendous campaign thanks to the team’s hard work and tenacity. We have been campaigning for almost six months. We gauged that we were speaking the language of the people out there.

“The nonsense we have had thrown at us by the other parties has been cast aside by the voters.

“I’m privileged to have received those votes, which I hold very dear.”

Conservative candidate Stephen Castens said he was pleased the Conservative vote had held up across the region and predicted UKIP would not perform as strongly in next year’s Westminster election.

He added: “If we are magnaging to peform like this a year before a General Election, we have got everything to play for.

“When I was on the doorstep there were a lot of people saying they were voting UKIP this time but they would be voting Conservative at the General Election.

“UKIP’s vote will collapse in 2015. They will do significantly less well because they are a one-issue party.”

For Labour, Glenis Willmott said: “I am disappointed to get a second seat. UKIP were always going to do well, but that’s not because of the issue of Europe, it’s because people are disengaged. They feel they have been left behind.

“We have got to reach out to those people. It’s about us giving the message that UKIP isn’t the answer.”